Two weapons generally means either a mainstay weapon and a launcher, or a base cracker and a flyswatter. Both setups can work fine. If the E1500 could equip a third weapon then it'd functionally have as much weapon flexibility as the war-purposed ships, as I'd wager most players don't want to use more than three weapons. Learn to cope.

Generally the games I play with the EI500 are by far the easiest to finish. Once you have it equipped with good armor, decent shield, a launcher and a good omni weapon (omni thermo lasts easily to the end) it can function as a missile boat with lots of cargo capacity. This will guarantee a big cashflow.
From then on, expand on that, add point defense, even heavier armor, quantum CPU and soon you don't need a drive upgrade. Get some Domina powers and you are literally invincible in the slow and cumbersome EI500 missile tank
Adding more slots for weapons would feel extremely overpowered to me for the EI500

On EI500, I use Omni or tracking (because it turns a bit slow). Since most of them lack WMD (and the few that do use ammo), the other must have it. This also means if I want to mine, I need to get rid of one of them for mining laser. It also means equipping powerful two-slot weapons like CLAW or Ares plasma archcannon really hurts. Two-weapon limit is a big deal for EI500. This is why I say it is its greatest weakness, and probably the only reason I do not play it more than Wolfen (whose two non-weapon device limit is nearly as aggravating; not sure which I dislike more, less weapons or non-devices). Slow turning is a bit annoying, but that plagues most ships, and Omni or tracking weapon helps deal with that. Slow top speed is completely negated by a drive upgrade.

In early game, I tend to leave weapons I do not need on gunships installed because money is tight and I cannot afford to waste it just to remove clutter from my ship. EI500 cannot do that. Dock services are relatively expensive in early game.

Download and Play in 1.8 Beta...Drake Technologies (Alpha): More hardware for combat in parts 1 and 2!Godmode v3 (WIP): Dev/cheat tool compatible with D&O parts 1 or 2.
Download and Play in 1.7...Star Castle Arcade: Relive classic arcade gaming in a new Transcendence adventure!Playership Drones v8: Under construction!

The E1500 has been severely penalized this game revision. No Drives in early game. Monopole shield appears to have been weakened. The E1500 this version uses more fuel, and has been slowed down. Very slow compared to all enemy ships except for the centari.
lack of drives, There are no drives available --this is probably the 90th game I have started and only in 1 start was a drive found between eridani and St katherines. 5 times I have been destroyed by sapien revenant ships that have swarmed and destroyed me. At least a dozen trying to destroy a urak outpost with the omnidirectional laser and a monopole shield. It takes 2 to 5 min to destroy a station with the omnidirectional laser. Really! The E1500 is so slow the only balance is the omni direction weapons which aren't available.
The osarka (nice design by the way) is much much faster an extra weapon slot and almost as much cargo capacity. Osarka has Less options but hey with no options offered what difference does that make.
1.6.4 was hard for the E1500 but with much care I could get to point juno and beyond before being destroyed. Now most games I am hunted down and killed before ever getting to st katherines. Really Very Very Very Unbalanced for the E1500

First thing I always go for with the EI500 is a missile launcher. I don't take on enemies I cannot handle with the omni laser. It is tough, but the NAMI launcher usually is available in Eridani. From then on the missiles are primary weapons until the omni laser can be ditched for something better (like the smartcannon from Benedict) Most early systems have enemies that take only a one or a few missile hits to be destroyed, so no problem there. After leaving Eridani in the EI500 I usually have a smartcannon and missiles, and with some luck better shields and or armor.
You have to take it slow and steady though, If you are used to flying Wolfen or Sapphire, you'll be toasted in the EI500.

With EI500 you just have to take it slow and steady in the beginning, because you cant dodge many shots. This ship get a lot of good options as the game proceeds.

As soon as replace your weapons with better ones and install lots of nice auxilliary devices then you are in business.

I have played a couple of times lately and always found a tritium drive rather quickly, around Rigel Aurelius or so. This is just a matter of luck.

(If you are lucky and find a tinker station and can buy an x-ray laser, do build an omni-x-ray laser. This baby, optimized with a laser collimator installed, suits the EI500 perfectly and will shred anything well into the ungoverned territories. Add a 2nd weapon/launcher of choice with good WMD to take out bases.)

Bruno I am terribly unlucky as I have never seen an x-ray laser in 1.7 release. Do they exist in an unmodified game? as to laser collimaters, they are rare maybe only 5% of the games I have started have them. Oh and if you don't have a targeting computer you most likely will not be able to destroy AV.

They still exist in 1.7. But it is a rare find.
Ususally by the time I can get one, I don't need it really because of the large accumulating amounts of Stiletto's that can take me well past St. Kats. I like to combine them with a spread weapon, like the Morningstar or later the Ion Flame Cannon in combination with Lucifers. They do great on the EI500, because they destroy incoming missiles and are powerful enough to take care of gunships that come in close.
Combine that with ICX or Longreach and you have a formidable array of diverse weapons at your disposal with only two slots for weapons available.

When playing a vanilla game -I still say E1500 has been penalized this version compared to the other ships. I do not understand the logic behind turning a fun game into a grindfest. why the designers keep removing options for the E1500 IMPO does not improve the game only detracts from it.

Edit - Well ok I got to keep my game (It updated for me) but now the blasted Ares Shipyards regenerate at an alarming speed! My snipe and run away tactic is all but useless now! Boo with that addition!

P.S. I do like the graphics and my weapon upgrades seem to be more upgraded which is great.